Ronnie O’Sullivan admits Barry Hearn has the pulling power to ensure he is not
lost to snooker forever.

The man chasing his fifth Betfair World Championship title raised the stakes for his semi-final showdown against Judd Trump by stating this would be his last tilt at Crucible glory.

He claimed on Wednesday night that he would fulfil a sponsor’s commitment to play 10 tournaments, mostly low-profile events, and then give up the game, having earned enough to pay his children’s school fees for years to come.

But O’Sullivan has confirmed he could be swayed by World Snooker chairman Hearn to play in tournaments if the circumstances suit him.

Hearn, who has managed O’Sullivan in the past, has vowed not to stand in the 37-year-old’s way should the latest in a long line of retirement warnings be one he sticks to.

O’Sullivan said: “I’m not going to be chasing rankings points, I’m not going to be going to China six times a year, and if I’m not prepared to do any of that I might as well find something else to do.

“But you never know with Barry, he’s always changing things. He might go, ‘Look Ronnsy, I’ve got a little tournament for you, you can turn up, do two weeks’ practice’.

“And I might go, ‘You know what, I’m up for that’. But I’m not up for the constant putting my life into snooker.”

O’Sullivan went into Friday night’s third leg of his four-session semi-final against world No 3 Judd Trump with a 9-7 lead, after edging ahead earlier in the day from a 4-4 overnight.

He suggests he wants a quiet life, possibly in a field as relatively humdrum as property development. “I don’t want to be a celebrity, I don’t want to be on the telly, I don’t want to do any of that sort of stuff,” O’Sullivan said.

“I don’t want to be a billionaire, I don’t want to rule the world. I want to have a purpose in life and there are other things out there that I’d like to do and I’m excited by it. I’ve been watching these property programmes where they buy a new house, put a new kitchen in ... it sounds a bit easier than playing snooker.

“Snooker’s been great to me but I find it hard to manage my levels of expectations.

“I should have bailed out last year, sold my house and paid the school fees. But who cares, I’m going to die one day so it doesn’t matter.”

Ricky Walden led Barry Hawkins 9-7 in the other semi-final. Chester-based Walden fired in 106, his third century of the match, to lead 8-5, but then saw Kent cueman Hawkins claw his way back. Walden, 30, is ahead in the battle of two players both battling to reach a first Crucible final, on the stage where he always dreamt of having a starring role.

“I came when I was a kid and saw Ronnie here as a kid and it blew my mind,” Walden said.